Justinian II

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He ascended the throne in 685 with a sixteen- year- old youth. The predominant feature of his character was cruelty, which made him the subject of hatred of the population.

In 689 and 690, Justinian was at war with the Bulgarians , who had recently established themselves on the Danube in a country already densely populated by Slavs . Justinian II resettled the captured Slavs to Asia Minor and formed a detachment of 30 thousand of them. In 692, Justinian II broke the peace with the Arabs , but was defeated in the battle of Sebastopolis by the forces of the caliph Abd al-Malik in Cilicia . The defeat was a consequence of the betrayal of part of the Slavs brought by him with him. Then Justinian ordered to kill near Nicomedia and those Slavs who remained loyal to him. The result of the defeat was the loss of southern Armenia , where Smbat VI Bagratuni (Symbatius) rebelled.

The hatred of the people was especially caused by the abuse and extortion of two favorites of Justinian - Theodotus and Stefan, of which the first was the Supreme Logofet (ό γενικός λογοθέτης), and the second - by the imperial sakellarii .

A major event in church life was the convening by Justinian of the cathedral in 691 - 692 years of the so-called "fifth-sixth" or Trullsky . The decisions of the Council of Troll were not recognized by Pope Sergius I ; Justinian II's attempts to force the pope to accept them ended in failure.

Overthrow and Link

The unpopularity of Justinian II took advantage of the commander Leontius . In 695, he escaped from prison, where he was imprisoned by order of a suspicious emperor, outraged residents of the capital, captured Justinian, ordered his nose and tongue to be cut off (for which Justinian was nicknamed Rinotmet - “with his nose cut off”) and sent to exile in Crimea (to Chersonesos ). Stefan and Theodotus were executed. Some time later, Leontius was also overthrown, and Tiberius III took the throne. For a long time, Justinian led a private life, but he had a vision that he would again be a ruler. Then Justinian II, escaped from Chersonese first to the mountain Doros , then to the Khazars to Phanagoria ( Taman Peninsula ) and finally to the Bulgarians . In 705, he came up with an army of Slavs and Bulgarians, with the Bulgarian khan Tervel at the head, to the walls of Constantinople.

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Justinian II took possession of the capital and again took the throne, cruelly taking revenge on his opponents: Tiberius and Leonty were beheaded, Patriarch Kallinik was deposed and exiled.

He generously awarded his patron, the Bulgarian khan Tervel, and set a precedent in history, giving Tervel the title of Caesar or Caesar. However, in 708, Justinian II suddenly attacked Bulgaria. Khan Tervel defeated him at the battle of Ankhialo .

The war with the Arabs went bad again: the Greeks lost Mopsuestia and Tiana ; in 709, Arabs invaded even Thrace . Justinian sent an army to Crimea, which was supposed to punish Chersonesus for not providing support to the emperor during his misfortune, but the army was outraged and proclaimed emperor Filippika Vardana . While Justinian II was gathering troops in Asia Minor, Filipikic captured Constantinople and killed the son of Justinian.

Justinian again asked for help from his former patron Khan Tervel . Tervel again responded to the emperor's requests, but this time with a smaller army, the khan clearly ceased to believe in Justinian's success. However, other supporters left Justinian and Filippik Vardan, inviting the Bulgarians to leave freely, captured the emperor left by the army and killed him, in 711 , cutting off his head.

Family

Justinian II was twice married. The first wife of the emperor was Evdokia, who gave birth to his daughter - Anastasia. Her father married her ally, the Bulgarian Khan Tervel .

The second wife was the sister of the Khazar Kagan Ibuzir Glyavan - Theodore. She gave birth to Justinian a son - Tiberius , who was the co-ruler of his father in 706-711.

Justinian II received the nickname "Rinotmit" ( Greek Ρινότμητος ; Church-Slav. Rinoѳmita, Kornonos ) ^[1] , due to its appearance. The emperor was a snub. Greek Ρινότμητος - literally: "cut nose" from the Greek. ῥῑνός - “ nose ” + Greek. τμῆσις - " cutting, cutting, cutting ." And also because his nose was really cut off (see “Overthrow and Link” above)

• Harry Turtleldav . Justinian
• Archpriest Nikolai Agafonov . John of Damascus

Primary sources

• Chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor

Modern research

• Vasiliev A. A. Chapter 4. The era of the Heraclius dynasty (610-717) // History of the Byzantine Empire. T.2. - M .: Aletheya, 2000 .-- ISBN 978-5-403-01726-8 .
• Dashkov S. B. Justinian II Rinotmet // Emperors of Byzantium. - M .: Red Square, 1997 .-- 558 p. - ISBN 5-87305-002-3 .
• Karinsky D. D. Justinian II // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Kulakovsky Yu. A. History of Byzantium in 3 volumes. Volume 3. - St. Petersburg. : Aletheia, 1996 .-- 552 p. - ISBN 5-89329-005-4 .
• John Norwich History of Byzantium. - M .: AST, 2010 .-- 542 p. - ISBN 9-78-517-050648.
• Skazkin S. D. Volume 2 // History of Byzantium. In 3 volumes - M .: Nauka, 1967 .-- ISBN 978-5-403-01726-8 .
• Assumption F.I., Period III (610-716). The Iconoclastic period (717-867). // History of the Byzantine Empire. In 5 volumes - M .: AST, Astrel, 2005 .-- T. 2 .-- 558 p. - ISBN 5-271-03856-4 .
• Stratos A. Byzantium in the Seventh Century: Justinian II, Leontius and Tiberius, 685-711 , 1980.